As one comment points out, the author made the mistake of coining a word that has been around for ages as "new" — ultimately lending a hand to cultural appropriation, rather than doing her own research from over in Canada to trace back the history and actual meaning of the word.

Yes, typically my panties are all knotted up over appropriation and admittedly, I was very annoyed initially reading this article. Granted, you might say I'm playing the "race card," but I call it trying to find the line that's been blurred by white people for far too long.

Calling white people out for using the term 'curving' seems like something minor and equivalent to a three-year-old yelling "copycat" but it's so much more than that; it's more like writing an essay and adding a quote without adding a citation.

"Curve" or "curving" is not so new — it's a word that's been wildly popular in African American culture for years, if not decades. However, it now seems that it's on its way to being rebranded in order for white people to take credit for in the same way they did with "boxer braids" — known by the African-American community as cornrows (a prominent example in pop culture) without credit or approval.

But I digress.

My goal here is to properly inform you about where the term 'curving' derives from. And, most importantly, to let you know that it's not ghosting, sprinkling, or whatever the hell else they use to describe assh*les who lead you on in some shape or form.

So, what is curving?

Curving can be used in a few different contexts, but it's most commonly used to convey a disinterest in someone you're either dating or have no desire to date (someone who may be biding for your affection). Someone who has been 'curved' is not necessarily having smoke blown up their ass, but is clearly being ignored or denounced.

For instance, if I ask my friend what happened when she responded to her cheating ex's text message and she simply replies, "Nothing. I curved," I can presume that she stopped responding and is more than likely done dealing with him. If a guy is catcalling as you walk down the street and you ignore his advances, that's curving. I curve guys who slide in my DM's after 10pm (because no booty calls here).

Those are all viable examples of how you use the term curve. Sure, a guy can curve you by ignoring you, but it's not a longwinded action in the way that ghosting is.

But what is NOT considered curving? A technique "so that [f*ckboys or girls] can keep hooking up with you without addressing the question of 'what' the two of you are," as described by Thought Catalog. And it is not "blatantly lying about your intentions," but instead being straight up about them. T

Curving has never once been what Thought Catalog tried to reinvent it as, but if that's what it will come to mean (which is what ineveitably happens when white people take things over) then it's important you know what it once meant. And I've prevented you all from looking like jackasses by misusing the word.